Tidal Exe

We had a pleasant paddle down the Exe from Countess Wear to Turf Locks and then back up the canal. The weather was good, with the gentle wind blowing us along the canal to match the assistance that we had from the tide going down the river.

Flamborough Head

The second paddle of the day was planned for Flamborough Head. We went a little further than we originally intended because the morning paddle at Spurn Head had been dropped.

See Jim's blog for his account of the day.

Spurn Head

Jim and I were hoping to launch at Spurn Head to have a look around the Humber Estuary. We had a change of plan after a chat with the warden of the nature reserve and an inspection of alternate launching sites.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust have a warden in the area of Spurn Head. Andrew Gibson is the Outer Humber Officer with whom we had a chat.

The two important items that Andy Gibson told me with regard to sea kayaking at Spurn Head are:
1) No launching within the nature reserve.
2) Unusually, the nature reserve owns the foreshore down to the LOW tide line. Landing is not permitted, other than in an emergency.

Andy and his staff were very friendly and helpful. They are generally sympathetic towards sea kayaking and other low impact activities. However, they cannot be seen to set a precedent that might open the gates to all manner of craft.

Alternate launching sites were either too muddy at the state of tide when we planned to launch or too far from the forts that we had intended to visit (given that we only planned a short paddle).

Blackpool Illuminations

I had to agree immediately when JimK of NWSK suggested the daft idea of a night paddle to see the Blackpool illuminations. In the end, there were ten paddlers meeting at the southern end of Blackpool for a trip up to the North Pier and back.
It was a bit of a trudge to the water - we got on at mid-tide:
It was still light when we set out:
But it started to get dark quite quickly:

Jim was one of the organisers of the trip:
and Peter was the other:
We all carried head torches as well as using light sticks. Some of us also had more powerful torches tucked away in our kit. However, the light sticks were enough on this occasion.
My thanks to Jim and Peter for a very enjoyable evening, even if it did make my head cold come back with a vengeance!

Macclesfield Canal

I met up again with Richard, a friend from university, for a paddle with the kids. I took Lojska along and Richard took both of his daughters. The venue was a new one for me - the only part of the Macclesfield Canal that I have paddled before is where all the locks are at Marple. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the Macclesfield Canal is another example of a canal with a long section that has no locks.